3 Essential Tips for Creating a Powerful PPC Keyword Strategy

SevenAtoms Blog

SevenAtoms Blog

April 26, 2016 Andy Beohar

For many businesses, PPC campaigns are one of the most effective ways to generate potential customers online. The ability to run laser-targeted ads can help you minimize your cost-per-lead and can drive results in a matter of weeks as opposed to months and years.

But developing a successful PPC campaign isn’t an easy feat. Before you can begin launching a campaign that will generate the number of leads you’re looking for, you must first come up with a powerful PPC keyword strategy that will be the basis of all your efforts.

Want to get started creating an effective PPC keyword strategy? Here are three essential tips you need to know:

1. Know Your Ideal Prospect

Creating a great PPC keyword strategy starts with knowing exactly who your prospect is on a personal level. As copywriting and marketing expert Joanna Wiebe (@copyhackers) puts it: “Think about your prospect. Know them personally. And always message with what they want – not what you want to say or what you think they might want – in mind.” (Source: Marketizator)

It’s not just about looking at keywords that are relevant to your business. The more important step is figuring out who the people are on the other side of the screen typing in those searches. Start by creating buyer personas that outline the behaviors, motivations, needs, and desires of your ideal customers so you know how to target other online users just like them.

2. Track Your Keyword Performance

The truth is, you won’t come up with a winning PPC keyword strategy out of the gate. The most important component of building a successful campaign is constantly monitoring what is and isn’t working, and then making necessary adjustments.

This means regularly updating your negative keywords lists and keeping tabs on your low quality score keywords. You can make sure you only keep the ‘winners’ and increase your visibility to more conversion-ready prospects, helping you get more out of each buck you spend.

3. Longer Vs. Shorter Search Queries

An interesting report done by Blue Nile Research in 2015 revealed a very telling trend: a whopping 50% of searchers are using 4 or more words in their search queries, with 27% phrasing their queries in the form of a question.

This means that it’s now more important than ever to go beyond the Google Keyword Tool and find out the exact problems or questions your prospects are having. Users now often ask very specific questions in their queries, and you’ll have to target long-tail keywords to attract them to your business, or risk becoming invisible.

How Do You Organize Your PPC Campaigns?

These are just a few of the countless different aspects that go into putting together a successful PPC keyword strategy. What do you think are some other important things to consider when researching keywords? Let us know in the comments!